Basavanagudi

Basavanagudi is a residential area is located in South Bangalore and borders Jayanagar. The name "Basavanagudi" refers to the Bull Temple that is located here. It is a monolith statue of the Nandi Bull. Basava in Kannada, the local language, means Bull and Gudi means temple. Hence, the name Basavanagudi. Distance from Bull Temple Road, Basavanagudi to Arehalli Main Road, Hosakerehalli, Bengaluru is 4.9 km and takes around 17 min via Kathriguppe Main Rd and 3rd Main Road.

The City of Bangalore has been growing at a rapid pace on all fronts. It was Kempegowda who was responsible for building the modern city of Bangalore (c1537), erecting a mud fort here to the north of the now existing fort which covered the area of Avenue Road and its surroundings. This he is said to have done at the instructions of Emperor Achutaraya and it is he who raised the Basavanagudi(temple) and expanded the Gavigangadhara and Someshwara temples. He is also credited with the construction of the Sampangi tank, the Kempambudhi and the Dharmambudhi tanks in Bangalore.

New extensions were added to the old town by creating Chamarajapet and Sheshadripuram in 1892, the former named after Chamarajendra Wodeyar and the later after Dewan Sheshadri Iyer. The Tata Silk Farm founded in 1896 near the Nagasandra and Yediyur villages became the nucleus of a future extensions of the city.

Two new bigger extensions, Basavanagudi (named after the Basaveshwara Temple or the Bull Temple in the Sunkenahalli village) and Malleshwaram (named after the Kadu Malleshwara Temple in the old Mallapura village) came up in 1898 to decongest the old Pete area as well as the cantonment area after the outbreak of Plague. The famous Gandhi Bazaar of Basavanagudi is the remnant of the erstwhile Karanji tank. National High School was founded in the area in 1907.

Dodda Basavana Gudi

Dodda Basavana Gudi (Nandhi Temple) is situated in Bull Temple Road, Basavanagudi, area of South Bangalore, part of the largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. The Hindu temple is inside a park called Bugle Rock.

The bull referred to is a sacred Hindu demi-god, known as Nandi; Nandi is a close devotee and attendant of Shiva. Dodda Basavana Gudi is said to be the biggest temple to Nandi in the world. The stone cult image of Nandi is continually covered with new layers of butter, benne in the local language of Kannada. There is a cult image of the elephant-headed Hindu deity son of shiva Ganesha close by.

Every year on the last Monday and Tuesday of the Hindu month of Karthika Maasa a groundnut fair is held in the temple premises and groundnut is offered to the deity. This fair is known as 'Kadalekaayi Parishe' in local tongue. Groundnut sellers and devotees throng the place during Kadalekaayi Parishe. Basavana Gudi is a regular place of visit for tourists and is covered by most of the tour operators including the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation.

Nandi Temple, Basavanagudi

Nandi Temple is exclusively for the worship of the sacred bull (Basava in Kannada) in Hinduism, known as Nandi, Lord Shiva's vahana. The word "nandi" means "joyful" in Sanskrit.

The temple was built in 1537 by Kempe Gowda under the Vijayanagara empire in the Vijayanagara architectural style, he also founded the city of Bangalore. The temple is named after the large granite Nandi monolith placed on a plinth in the temple shrine (garbhagriha) which has become blackened from years of being rubbed with charcoal and oil. The temple is a small one, consisting only of the shrine fronted by a porch in the Vijayanagara style. The current tower (vimana) over the shrine was constructed in the early 20th century and is adorned with Saivite figures and motifs. It is said to house one of the largest Nandi murthis in the world. The height of the murthi is approximately 15 ft (4.6 m) and it is approximately 20 feet (6.1 m) long.

Bugle Rock garden, Basavanagudi

The Bugle Rock garden is behind the Dodda Ganesha temple and adjacent to the Bull temple. The garden gets its name from a bugle call made on top of a very large rock formation to alert the nearby dwellers. It is densely covered with trees and one can usually see and hear a number of bats perched on the trees. There is a water tank with motifs of famous people from Karnataka.